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The term '[[code]]' derives from [[Roman Jakobson]]'s theory of [[communication]].
[[Jacques LacanJakobson]] borrows the term presents his opposition 'code vs message'as an equivalent of [[codeSaussure]]' from s ''[[Roman Jakobsonlangue]]'s theory of ' vs ''[[communicationparole]]''.
[[Code]]s are the province of [[animal]] [[communication]], not of [[intersubjective communication]].
The fundamental difference is that there is a fixed bi-univocal (one-to-one) relationship between an [[index]] and its [[referent]], whereas there is no such relationship between a [[signifier]] and a [[referent]] or between a [[signifier]] and a [[signified]].
Because of the bi-univocal relation of [[indices]] and [[referent]]s, [[code]]s lack what [[Lacan]] regards as the fundamental feature of [[human]] [[language]]s: the potential for ambiguity and equivocation.<ref>see Lacan, 1973b</ref>
<ref>Lacan is not always consistent in maintaining this opposition between code and language. In the seminar of 1958-9, for example, when presenting the elementary cell of the [[graph of desire]], he designates one point as the code, which he also designates as the place of the Other and the battery of signifiers. In this case, it is clear that the term 'code' is being used in the same sense as the term 'language', namely, to designate the set of signifiers available to the subject.</ref>
==References==
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[[Category:Dictionary]]
